iExaminer puts the eye on iPhone

Medical device manufacturer Welch Allyn has released an adapter and app that allows users of its PanOptic ophthalmoscope to capture, store and email retinal images using their iPhone 4.

The PanOptic is a portable ophthalmoscope that gives a wider view of the retinal area, or fundus, than normal devices. It is mainly marketed at GPs rather than ophthalmologists as it allows them to view the fundus through an undilated pupil.

The new iExaminer technology consists of an adapter that sits over the ophthalmoscope and aligns the optical access of the PanOptic to the visual axis of the iPhone's camera to capture high-resolution pictures of a patient's fundus and optic nerve.

The associated app then allows users to save the images to a patient file on the iPhone, as well as email and print the images.

Matthew Smith, of online medical device distributor DocStock, said current users of the PanOptic merely need to buy the adapter and the app, or health professionals can buy the whole package.

Mr Smith, who has set up a new website for the product at www.iExaminer.com.au, said both rural health and remote health specialists would be prime markets due to the ability to send the images on for referral.

“It lets you capture a whole series of images when you press the button,” he said. “Because the patient’s eye may move slightly, it takes a number of images and you pick the best images from that series. You can then store up to three different images for each eye and save them in a patient folder in the iPhone, which you can then email out to anyone else. It is all contained in the app.”

A free version of the app is available from the iTunes App Store with a limit of 10 patient files that will allow users to capture, store and retrieve the images. The iExaminer Pro app costs $32 and has additional file storage as well as the email functionality.